Nets react to new flopping rule

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Avery Johnson seems a bit lukewarm about the NBA's new flopping rule.

The league announced Wednesday that it will penalize players for flopping and the amount of those fines will increase with each infraction.

Players are expected to get a warning the first time and will be fined $5,000 for their second violation. Fines increase to $10,000 for the third infraction, $15,000 for the fourth and $30,000 for the fifth.

Officials at the NBA's headquarters are going to closely look at the plays afterward and determine if a player should be slapped with a fine for flopping while trying to draw a foul.

"I think it’s hard to fine a guy because it’s a subjective deal," Johnson said Thursday after practice at the PNY Center. "So, if I’ve got a guy that flops, obviously I’m not going to think that the flopped. I think it’s kid of subjective. So, I’m just kind of curious to see how it’s all going to shake out.

"I don’t like flopping. I’m against flopping, but I think this is one of those things, we always have a big ticket item every year. So we’ll see how we are and how we feel about this in the middle of the season and then after the All-Star break and so forth and so on."

But there's someone on Johnson's team who's pleased to see the rule implemented.

"I’m not a flopper, so it’s going to work to my advantage," Joe Johnson said. "I'm always the guy who they are flopping on. Hopefully, they will take it out of the game and it will make the game a lot better."

"It’s messing up the game, man. So I’m glad they put it in, honestly."

Johnson said flopping has become a specialty for more than a few in the league.

"It’s a lot of players whose games are predicated on flopping," he said. "They tend to get guys in foul trouble with 3, 4 flops a game. So it’s going to make it tough for some guys."

Flopping has grown exponentially in Johnson's 11 seasons in the NBA.

"When I first came into the league in '01, I don’t know if there was even flopping," he said. "It seems like everybody is doing a little flopping here and there. I’ve worked on my flop game in the past. It don’t work for me."